De Ranke Noir De Dottignies

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

330ml bottle (Pikkulintu, Helsinki)
Very deep orangy red. Tiny head. Dry grainy aroma, some bitter root too. Taste is also quite grainy and bitter. Some horse blanket in the finish, and also liquorice, and with a welcome hoppiness. It sounds quite dry, but actually it’s pleasantly sweet. I wasn’t in a beer-drinking mood when I had this, so may have under-rated it.

Bottle 0,33 ltr: Dark brown ale from Belgium with an bitter taste and hints from chocolate, coffee and caramel.

This was an unlabelled bottle that I picked up at GBBF. Pours a very murky puddle brown with a light beige head. There is cocoa, cappucino and praline on the nose but lacks the hoppiness that is found in the mouth. Taste is pretty decent, there is also a nice soft carbonation but it is the hops that I pick out first along with a good balance of sweet malts.The hops are quite citrussy and there is plenty of length on the bitterness. I really liked this beer, its a very decent effort. A7 A3 F8 P4 OV15

33cl bottle at home, iRate: pours very deep dark red-brown with light tan fading head. Dark earth aroma. Some definite dark malt burnt notes. Vinous undertones are mild but quite nice. The acidic quality does get a little lost under the roast. Smells like it is right up my alley. I love sour ales and I love darker roasted beers. Upon tasting, there is more roasted astrongency than I thought there would be. Upfront roast and chocolate with a mineral base. That moves into a bitter fight between a husky roast and a grassy hop (I assume). I notice a distinct lack of tartness or sourness that I found in the aroma... At least it doesn’t show up in the beginning as expected. It does faintly start as the roast subsides. It grows slightly more vinous as the finish approaches. The beer ends with a bit more of the mix of slight tartness and roast that I had in mind. Lightly burnt sugars show up with the light coffee and dark chocolate and musty vinous character. A bit of alcohol too. A nice worthy beer, but could be much more. Less minerally, more funk... then we’d have something fantastic.

Bottled @ EBF 2008. Reddish brown body with a big off-white head. Aroma is fruity and malty with caramel. Flavor is sweet malty, some caramel, fruity, spicy and bitter. Quite nice, not outstanding, but a bit more bitter than usually in Belgium beers.

Nice dark brown, some hints of black too color. Very strong nose with roasted malts ans chocolattones. In the taste first some yeastaromas, developing into roasted malts ,some say burned, and dark chocolatebitters. Aftertaste with hnts of bayleaf, licorice. Very special beer.

[Shared with Bo at Carlsens.] Is this belgian??. A mix of an abbey ale and something else, maybe german porter. Soft warming yeasty alcoholic flavor. Hints of licorice, fruit, caramel, spices and with a smooth finish. Special good strange beer!

A clear red/brown colored beer, with a beige head. The aroma of fruits like prunes and cherries, also malts and hops, with some spices. The taste of several fruits like cherries and prunes. A little bit of chocolate. A bit spicey. The aftertaste is spicey with some sweets.